Alexis smiled as she drew her next card, which didn't seem to bother her opponent one bit. "I'll play Cyber Petit Angel!" She said as a pink puffball with wings appeared (300/200).

"For the sake of the Moon, would you stop playing like a six year old and play a REAL card?" Serena snapped. Alexis smirked.

"Fine. Petiti Angel's effect brings Machine Angel Ritual to my hand!" She said. Serena frowned. Ritual? She remembered being told briefly about the Ritual cards, but never dueled against them. "I'll then attack with Cyber Tutu!" She said.

"I'll activate Waboku to protect me from the attack," Serena said calmly. Alexis nodded, Set a card, and ended her turn. Serena grinned and drew.

"Alright, since you didn't like my Laquari…" She began as she summoned a monster. "Let's see how you play with Gladiator Beast Equeste! Attack with Charging Hoof Stomp on Petit Angel!" She demanded. The monster hesitated, as if trying to resist, Atem noticed and his eyes widened.

"No… Alexis! You must stop this duel!" He yelled. Rei grabbed his arm.

"What're you talking about?" She asked sharple. Atem tugged free.

"Serena has subconsciously created a Shadow Game environment as a result of the darkness consuming her. Whether she knows it or not I do not know, but this duel is now extremely dangerous," He said.

"How do you know?" Rei asked.

"Because Serena's monster doesn't want to follow its orders. Look," Atem replied, pointing to Equeste. Rei looked on in fascination as Equeste attempted to dig its hooves into the ground before being forced to charge down the Angel. Alexis braced for impact but didn't expect what came next.

"AHH!" Sbe yelled. She felt like her beating heart was being ripped into as the damage was dealt (6200 - 1600 = 4600). Alexis took a moment to regain her senses before looking up to Serena again.

"Equeste tags out for Murmillo, which kills Tutu!" Serena continued. Alexis shook her head.

"Activate Prima Light! This card takes Cyber Tutu all the way to the top, transforming it into Cyber Prima!" She said as a spotlight shone on Cyber Tutu, which began to glow and change until a different dancer stood before them (2300/1600). Serena nodded and laughed.

"About time you played a decent card," She remarked as she ended her turn.

"I'll play more than just that! I'll play Machine Angel Ritual! I sacrifice Cyber Prima to play Machine Angel Benten!" Alexis said. A woman in a white jumpsuit with a black cape and razor-sharp red folding fan rose up (1800/1500). "I'll then play Ritual Weapon! It only works on Ritual Monsters, but it'll raise Benten's ATK and DEF by 1500 points! (1800/1500 + 1500/1500 = 3300/3000)."

"Wow. That's a hell of a bonus," Rei commented.

"Benten, att…" Alexis stopped. She knew she was in a Shadow Game environment and she knew what such games had done to people like Zane Truesdale. Not only that, she'd felt what that last attack from Equeste was like, and that wasn't even too much of a hit. When Benten's special ability kicked in, Serena would be losing almost half her remaining Life Points. Would she survive such a strike?

"Come on, let's get this show on the road! You attacking or are you afraid?" Serena mocked. Alexis looked to Rei, who shrugged her shoulders as if to say "I have no idea."

"…I attack with Benten!" Alexis said finally. I hope she's strong enough to stand this… She thought. She watched as Benten leapt into the air and slashed into Murmillo. Serena screamed in pain as the bladed fan cut into her, and to her horror Alexis noticed that it left a very real streak of blood in its wake. "Benten, stop!" She cried as Benten swung with her other fan as her ability kicked in. Another slice drew more blood from the other arm as Serena moved to protect herself (7000 - 3300 = 3700).

"Serena!" Luna gasped as the Moon Princess grasped her right forearm, attempting to protect the shallow cut. Everyone stared in horror as Serena clenched her teeth to steel herself through the pain and waited for Alexis' next move.

"I… I end my turn…" Alexis said.

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It had been happenstance that Kaiba happened to be within hearing distance when a scream filled the air. A female voice, by the sound of it. Whether due to pain or fright, Seto knew that screaming was probably not a good sign. It was also happenstance that Bakura and Neflite had been running to the source of the scream as well, causing the pair to collide with the elder Kaiba brother.

"Do you have something to do with that?" Seto demanded. Bakura smirked instead of immediately answering, which was a bad idea. Seto dropped him with a fist, shouldered Neflite hard into a building wall and grabbed Bakura by the collar. "What the hell did you do?" He asked.

Bakura struggled free from Kaiba's grip, but Seto was all-too familiar with the ancient entity's old tricks. He aimed a kick at Bakura's Duel Disk, sending his cards flying everywhere before he could use those Shadow Realm powers of his to get help. Bakura yelled an Egyptian curse before looking between Kaiba, the cards strewn on the ground, and the knocked-out Neflite. Kaiba smiled.

"Have fun with your 42-card pickup," He said smugly before briskly striding off to find the source of the yelling he'd heard. Bakura snarled as he began gathering his deck; it'd been smart of the man to disable his primary power source instead of trying to go blow-for-blow with him.

"What in the hell just happened?" Neflite asked dazedly as she picked herself up. Bakura snorted derisively.

"The usual; you were useless and Kaiba got lucky," He snapped.

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"What in the hell is going on here?" Kaiba muttered as he came upon the scene. In front of him raged a duel between Serena and a girl that he vaguely recognized as a top Obelisk Blue student. Two things disturbed him: One, Serena was bleeding from both arms, and two, he could feel the same sort of odd feeling that made his skin crawl when he'd witnessed Joey dueling Marik in the quarterfinals of the original Battle City.

"A damned Shadow Game…" He realized. Both players were injured; in addition to Serena's arms, he could see a bruise forming on the other girl's clavicle. "I'm not letting anyone get hurt anymore," He said. He stopped a moment to ponder precisely when he'd suddenly become any sort of compassionate, then passed it off to himself as simple security concerns.

"They can't very well hurt each other if their disks 'malfunction'," He said as he pressed a button on his personal duel disk. He smiled in satisfaction as that dark feeling disappeared along with the monsters and life point readouts. He furrowed his eyebrows as he contemplated attending to the duelist's wounds, but eventually retreated into an alleyway after deciding that they were big girls that could take care of themselves.

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"What the…?" Alexis wondered. The playing field flickered a few times. "What did you do?" She asked Serena.

"I didn't do anything! What did you- HEY!" She shouted as everything completely dissipated. "What the hell?"

"Agreed. What just happened?" Rei wondered. "Did their Disks just malfunction or what?"

Atem looked around before spotting movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and caught a very brief glimpse of a pair of blue eyes and a trench coat before the person whom they belonged to blended into the shadows of the alley. Atem gave a small laugh and smiled.

"I always knew you were a softie at heart, Kaiba," He said quietly. Rei turned and looked at him.

"What?" She asked. Atem shook his head and chuckled.

"Nothing. I'm just glad that the duel was stopped. Serena, are you- Serena?" He stopped cold as he realized Serena had vanished. "Alexis, where did she go?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"She ran off saying something about finding the jerk that interfered with our duel," Alexis replied. "She took off before I could even try to stop her. She did drop this on the way, though," She added. Rei gave a soft gasp as Alexis held up the Moon Prism. Rei took it and frowned.

"That's…odd," She said. Atem, Luna, Alexis and Rebecca all gave her looks of questioning. "Usually I can track any one of us through our Prisms by meditating with them on the bond they share with their respective Scout. But this time… it's like the bond somehow snapped," She explained.

"I may have an explanation for that," Luna piped up. Everyone looked down at the cat until Rebecca picked her up and set the cat on her shoulder. "Thank you. The Prisms from which the Scouts draw their power are pure relics of light. They are highly resistant to dark forces," She said.

"Then how was Amy brainwashed?" Rei asked.

"It wasn't her Prism they infected, it was her mind. In any case, I believe the Moon Prism has essentially refused to serve Serena whilst she is under the influence of Dreadroot. I don't think Serena dropped the Prism, I think the Prism was ejected from her dark being," Luna explained.

"So now what? We're down a Scout and Serena is missing and potentially an enemy?" Rebecca asked. Luna grew thoughtful and turned pensively to Rebecca.

"Well…yes, for the moment. But the Moon Prism needs a home. Unbound, if it falls into the hands of the Negaverse they may well find a way to drain its power for their own ends," She began. Rei looked at Luna, confused. After a moment of thinking, Rei's eyes widened.

"Is that wise? Or even possible?" Rei asked. Luna nodded.

"Perfectly so. Rebecca," Luna turned to the young champion, "we need, in essence, a temporary new owner of the Prism. It is," She added, taking the stone from Alexis with both paws and holding it outward, "choosing a new home now," she said. Indeed, the Moon Prism glowed as it neared Rebecca.

"…You've got to be kidding. I'm not a superhero, no way. I mean, I fought with Yugi and his friends to help beat Dartz that one time, but… that was just dueling. I…" Luna smiled even as Rebecca stuttered.

"The Prisms only react to what's already in your heart, Rebecca. Please, we have need of you in this troubled time. Think of what Yugi would do," She added. Rebecca bit her lip and stared at the glowing crystal.

"I…" Rebecca hesitated before finally grasping the crystal. Despite not having made the command, she began to transform into the new Scout. When the process was completed, Rebecca looked down in shock. She was decked out in the full Sailor Scout outfit, complete with the orbs in her hair and everything.

Luna smiled as she watched. Rebecca even looked a bit like Serena with her hair in pigtails, albeit much less hair and a bit smaller. Watching Rebecca take up Serena's power in her absence was almost like watching Serena transform for the first time. "Rebecca, will you take up this responsibility and power?" She asked.

"…Yes," Rebecca said after a moment, sounding far more confident. Luna smiled again.

"Then I hereby pronounce you, for the time being, the one named Sailor Moon."